Clinton leads push in U.N. for Assad edict

Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton is backing a plan calling for Syria's leader to leave in two months.

Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton is backing a plan calling...

WASHINGTON - Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton led a high-wattage diplomatic push Tuesday to persuade the U.N. Security Council to endorse an Arab plan for Syrian President Bashar Assad to step down, but she couldn't break the steadfast objections of Russia and China.

As fighting between government and opposition forces continued on the outskirts of the Syrian capital, Damascus, Clinton said that a failure by the Security Council to respond would mean being "complicit in the continuing violence," which was approaching a civil war.

Clinton, the foreign ministers of Britain and France, and Arab allies appeared at the United Nations to back a draft resolution that calls for Assad to resign within two months, a halt to the violence and beginning a process of political transition.

The draft also calls for the release of detainees and for Syria to allow outside observers into the country, including journalists.

Translator

To read this article in one of Houston's most-spoken languages, click on the button below.

"The alternative - spurning the Arab League, abandoning the Syrian people, emboldening the dictator - would compound this tragedy and would mark a failure of our shared responsibility and shake the credibility of the United Nations Security Council," Clinton said.

Russian opposition

The Obama administration and its allies are pushing for the Security Council to approve the resolution swiftly, and a vote is expected later in February. But they encountered stiff resistance from Russia - of whom Syria is an ally dating to the Soviet era - and China, both veto-wielding members of the Security Council.

Russia said it was against foreign countries participating in regime change, particularly with military force.

Russia's U.N. ambassador, Vitaly Churkin, said Syria could resolve its own issues, and he signaled that Russia thinks Assad can survive the uprising. He suggested informal talks in Moscow between Assad's regime and his opponents, arguing that the Security Council "cannot impose the parameters of a settlement."

Keeping observers out

Syrian officials have prevented most international observers from obtaining a firsthand look at the conditions in the country, and while U.S. officials think that Assad won't last, they don't know how long he can hang on to power.

The U.N. estimates at least 5,400 civilians have been killed since the uprising began nearly 11 months ago, most by government forces.